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Spanish Words Become Our Own

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  • machete
  • machismo,
  • macho (macho usually means simply "male" in Spanish)
  • maize (from maíz, originally from Arawak mahíz)
  • manatee (from manatí, originally from Carib)
  • mano a mano (literally, "hand to hand")
  • margarita (from a woman's name)
  • matador (literally, "killer")
  • marijuana (usually mariguana or marihuana in Spanish)
  • mesa (In Spanish it means "table," but it also can mean "tableland," the English meaning.)
  • margarita (a woman's name meaning "daisy")
  • mariachi
  • menudo (Mexican food)
  • mesquite (tree name originally from Nahuatl mizquitl
  • mestizo
  • mole (Unfortunately, the name for this delightful chocolate-chili dish is sometimes misspelled as "molé" in English in an attempt to prevent mispronunciation.)
  • mosquito
  • mulatto (from mulato)
  • mustang (from mestengo, "stray")
  • nacho
  • nada
  • negro (comes from either the Spanish or Portuguese word for the color black)
  • nopal (type of cactus, from Nahuatl nohpalli)
  • ocelot (originally Nahuatl oceletl; the word was adopted into Spanish and then French before becoming an English word)
  • olé (in Spanish, the exclamation can be used in places other than bullfights)
  • oregano (from orégano)
  • paella (a savory Spanish rice dish)
  • palomino (originally meant a white dove in Spanish)
  • papaya (originally Arawak)
  • patio (In Spanish, the word most often refers to a courtyard.)
  • peccadillo (from pecadillo, diminutive of pecado, "sin")
  • peso (Although in Spanish a peso is also a monetary unit, it more generally means a weight.)
  • peyote (originally Nahuatl peyotl)
  • picaresque (from picaresco)
  • pickaninny (offensive term, from pequeño, "small")
  • pimento (Spanish pimiento)
  • pinole (a meal made of grain and beans; originally Nahuatl pinolli)
  • pinta (tropical skin disease)
  • pinto (Spanish for "spotted" or "painted")
  • piñata
  • piña colada (literally meaning "strained pineapple")
  • piñon (type of pine tree, sometimes spelled "pinyon")
  • plantain (from plátano or plántano)
  • plaza
  • poncho (Spanish adopted the word from Araucanian, an indigenous South American language)
  • potato (from batata, a word of Caribbean origin)
  • pronto (from an adjective or adverb meaning "quick" or "quickly"
  • pueblo (in Spanish, the word can mean simply "people")
  • punctilio (from puntillo, "little point," or possibly from Italian puntiglio)
  • puma (originally from Quechua)
  • quadroon (from cuaterón)
  • quesadilla
  • quirt (type of riding whip, comes from Spanish cuarta)
  • ranch (Rancho often means "ranch" in Mexican Spanish, but it can also mean a settlement, camp or meal rations.)
  • reefer (drug slang, possibly from Mexican Spanish grifa, "marijuana")
  • remuda (regionalism for a relay of horses)
  • renegade (from renegado)
  • rodeo
  • rumba (from rumbo, originally referring to the course of a ship and, by extension, the revelry aboard)
  • salsa (In Spanish, almost any kind of a sauce or gravy can be referred to as salsa.)
  • sarsaparilla (from zarza, "bramble," and parilla, "small vine")
  • sassafras (from sasafrás)
  • savanna (from obsolete Spanish çavana, originally Taino zabana, "grassland")
  • savvy (from sabe, a form of the verb saber, "to know")
  • serape (Mexican blanket)
  • serrano (type of pepper)
  • shack (possibly from Mexican Spanish jacal, from the Nahuatl xcalli, "adobe hut")
  • siesta
  • silo
  • sombrero (In Spanish, the word, which is derived from sombra, "shade," can mean almost any kind of hat, not just the traditional broad-rimmed Mexican hat.)
  • spaniel (ultimately from hispania, the same root that gave us the words "Spain" and español)
  • stampede (from estampida)
  • stevedore (from estibador, one who stows or packs things)
  • stockade (from a French derivation of the Spanish estacada, "fence" or "stockade")
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